


Listen To Your Heart

by Kuailong



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Breaking and Fixing, CPR, Drowning, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 10:41:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2689814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuailong/pseuds/Kuailong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Songfic. Panicked boyfriends, excessive force, and traumatizing CPR make for one heck of a day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listen To Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Listen To Your Heart - Roxette, post-NaNoWriMo shmoop and victory fanfic.

“Damn it, Clint. Pull up!” Natasha said from the back. She was not abandoning another jet, it would be the third that month. She was clinging to the side as the jet tipped on it’s side.

“I could if those bastards hadn’t blown the left engine, Tash. We’re gonna have to leave it.” Clint was already removing the flight harness, she could hear the buckles releasing. Damn it, she didn’t want to lose another jet. But living was a higher priority. “I only hope the auto-pilot keeps working long enough for us to get out.” Natasha caught him saying as he climbed into the back with her. The only light they had were the emergency lights, which were being entirely unhelpful and flickering. The electrical systems had to be damaged too. He tossed her a parachute and started wriggling into his. She scowled and started doing the same.

“We’re not far from shore, but the water is choppy from the storm coming in. We’re going to have to be careful. Systems were pretty damaged, but I think I got through to Cap. Heard a little before the radio fizzled out, I passed on our coordinates and that we’re jumping ship. Hopefully he got the message. They’ll find us.” He snapped the last buckle and moved over to help her get the strap over her chest. She scowled at him.

“I’m not worried about them finding us, or the water. We lost another jet, Clint. Tony might be made of money, but these things aren’t cheap. We can’t keep losing the damn things like this.” She told him as she finally got the parachute on. Clint just smirked at her.

“You’re just worried we’re costing your boyfriend millions of dollars every week. He’s got the funding, Tasha. It’s not like he buys these things out of pocket. Air Force is all too happy to trade him for new tech.” He effectively ended the argument by slamming on the hatch’s emergency release. Natasha glanced back at him and jumped, diving into the air. She knew Clint would follow after a moment, they needed to space out their falls. Natasha could see the sea churning below them. At least it was summer, the water wouldn’t be dangerously cold. She could try shouting back at him for communication, but chances were that would get lost in the wind. And it was extremely windy with the storm blowing in. Natasha was gaging her own flight and when she’d need to hit the release on the ‘chute when she heard the jet explode behind them. Yep, that wasn’t going to get recovered.

“Natasha!” Clint’s scream caught her attention, and she jerked her head up in time for a hunk of something to slam across the back of her head. She was out instantly.

 

_I know there's something in the wake of your smile._  
 _I get a notion from the look in your eyes, yeah._  
 _You've built a love but that love falls apart._  
 _Your little piece of heaven turns too dark._  


 

Free-falling was easily one of Clint’s more favorite things, but free-falling into open waters? Not so much. But when the jet exploded he was glad he made that call. He watched Natasha cant her body to fall better, and he copied her motion. He thought the jet was far enough away that it wouldn’t effect them, but he was wrong. He knew he was wrong when he saw the chunk of metal, or plastic, it didn’t matter, sail through the air towards Natasha.

“Natasha!” He screamed at her, and hoped she’d move enough to miss it. But she didn’t, she accidentally put herself in better range. The piece of whatever slammed into her head and he saw it, the moment she was out cold.

“Shit shit shit.” He muttered, pulling in and trying to dive towards her. But the wind wasn’t cooperating, and she was falling limply through the air. She wasn’t waking up.

“Natasha!” He screamed again, please no. Please, he begged whatever god was watching out for them, please. He knew the moment he had to make a choice. Risk hitting the water after her, or pulling his parachute and hoping he could get someone else to her. He probably made the riskier of the decisions but he started unstrapping his chute and pulling himself out of it mid-air. He flung it to the side and angled himself downward. He could try and catch her, but she was heavier with her parachute and gear and she was unconscious, her body was limp and falling fast. A gust of wind buffeted him and pushed him away from her path.

“Natasha!” His voice was getting lost in the wind, watching her hit the water only yards away. He hoped she would break the surface, and he watched until he had to prepare himself for his own water-landing. She didn’t come back up. He hit the water, the surface tension knocking the wind out of him. He pushed for the surface, but the lack of visible land-marks and light made it hard to him to judge where she had landed. But he had to try. Coughing the water that he had inhaled he started swimming, pushing himself towards the direction he hoped she was in. A large wave hit him and pulled him under, sputtering. Damn it, he needed to get to her, she didn’t have time. If she was still unconscious when she hit the water, he had minutes to get to her. He felt something snag the back of his vest and jerk him upwards, out of the water. He glanced up to see the Iron Man suit carrying him. He started coughing up the water he had been forced to inhale. They needed to go back, Natasha didn’t have time. But he couldn’t get the words out, not past the coughing and the wind. He felt Tony drop him to the ground after a few minutes, and he pulled himself onto his hands and knees and puked enough water that he swore he could fill a fish tank.

“Natasha.” He managed to get out around him trying to catch his breath.

“Yeah, I’m going back for her. I found you first, though.” Tony said, turning around and getting ready to launch.

“Wait!” Clint yelled, rolling over and sitting up. “Something hit her on the head when we were falling, she didn’t deploy her ‘chute, and I think she was unconscious when she hit the water. I couldn’t find her.” He forced himself to get it all out. Tony hesitated and turned back to him. Clint could see the man’s posture grow fearful. “Go! Get her!” He yelled, pointing back out at the ocean. He didn’t matter, Clint didn’t matter, but if they didn’t find Natasha soon it wasn’t going to be a rescue. It was going to be a recovery. Tony launched into the air and Clint sagged. He prayed to whatever god was watching them that Tony would find her in time, that she would survive this, like she had survived so much else.

 

_Listen to your heart_  
 _when he's calling for you._  
 _Listen to your heart_  
 _there's nothing else you can do._  
 _I don't know where you're going_  
 _and I don't know why,_  
 _but listen to your heart_  
 _before you tell him goodbye._  


 

 

Tony wanted to kick himself. He should have looked for Natasha first, but he had found Clint. He hadn’t known, couldn’t have known. He wasn’t even sure he could find her in the dark. He had no idea how deep she would be, or how long she had been under. But he had to look, had to try.

“J, put up thermal and try and see if you can locate her by her tracker.” He told his AI, visor down, he flew to where he had picked up Clint and dove under. The suit was waterproof, and could withstand deep oceanic pressure. The thermal vision came up, he could only hope she still had body heat he could track her by. He also kept an eye on the surface, but if she had been on the surface, he’d have seen her. His heart was in his throat, he couldn’t lose her.

“Sir, I cannot make contact with her tracker in this weather.” Tony grimaced. There went one option of locating her in the water. He really needed to route the team’s trackers through JARVIS instead of the satellites he had them routed through. The thermal might not even work, the water was chill enough it might have sapped her body heat. And … he swallowed hard. If her heart had stopped, she wouldn’t be generating body heat.

“Thermal off, J. Turn on the lights.” It had to be at least fifteen minutes since she hit the water, if he was calculating everything right. At least fifteen, and probably more. Her odds of surviving were dropping by the second, he was starting to fear he was looking for a corpse. But he had to keep trying. There was a flash of red in the corner of his vision and he whipped his head around. Oh thank God. It was her. He shot towards her and grabbed her body in his arms, shooting for the surface after he was sure he had a good grip on her. He pulled her tighter against his chest as he let JARVIS guide him to a shore. Any shore. He ripped the parachute off of her as he flew, it would just get in the way

“JARVIS, give me her vitals.” He told the AI as they hit land. He dropped her to the ground and rolled her onto her back. Her face was slack, her red hair plastered to parts of her face. Her mouth was slightly open but her chest didn’t move.

“Sir, I’m sorry.” JARVIS said after a moment, her … damn it. She didn’t have vitals, there was nothing. Not even a weak heart beat. He bent down over her, she hadn’t been under that long. She was a meta-human, there was still a chance. But he had to start _now._ Please, please let her live. That was all he asked for. He used the suit’s strength to rip open her suit and bra.

“Tony, can you hear me?” His comm crackled to life, but he didn’t answer right away. He placed one palm against the center of her chest, then laced his other hand on top. He could remember how to do CPR, right? Thirty compressions, one hundred per minute. Let the chest recoil. He tried not to let himself think that this was the woman he loved, dead under his hands. He leaned into each compression, remembering to let her chest recoil after each compression. Please.

“I’m here. Clint’s on shore, I’ve got Natasha. She’s not breathing, I pulled her out unresponsive. I can’t get a heartbeat, I’ve started CPR. Gonna need help over here.” He spoke quickly as he pushed down on her chest. He finished counting to thirty and forced his visor to flip up. Hands cradling her head, he tipped it back.

“Come on, Tash. Don’t do this to me.” He said, leaning down and sealing his mouth over hers. He forced a breath into her, watching her chest rise. Good. He forced another breath into her and then moved back to her chest. He wasn’t going to panic, not yet. He started the second cycle of compressions, and this time he felt her ribs give way under his hands.

“Son of a bitch.” Steve never swore, especially over their communication’s channel. But there it was. “Alright, Bruce says we have an AED on the copter. We’re heading towards you, he says keep doing CPR and keep us posted if anything changes.” Tony nodded before he realized they couldn’t hear him nod.

“Got it, hurry. If I’m right, she went under over fifteen minutes ago. We don’t have a lot of time.” Twenty-five, twenty-six. He’d keep going as long as he could. More ribs gave way under his hands, popping and cracking. It made him want to be sick. But he needed to keep her heart going, needed to keep the blood flowing to her brain. It was the only way he could buy her a chance at surviving this. He made it to thirty and moved back to her head. Securing her head in his hands he leaned down and forced two more quick breaths into her. There was no response, no movement. She was still, and her lips were cold. He didn’t think he’d forget the sensation of her cold lips on his, not for a long time. He moved back to her chest, his knees shifting in the sand. He started the third cycle. About halfway through he was fairly sure he felt her sternum shift under his hands. He was pulling on the suit’s strength for this, and it made him a little worried that maybe he was using too much force. But he didn’t dare lessen the strength he was using, broken bones could heal. But her heart needed to be beating for that.

 

_Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile._  
 _The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yeah._  
 _They're swept away and nothing is what it seems,_  
 _the feeling of belonging to your dreams._

 

Tony could hear the blood rushing in his ears, his own heartbeat frantic as he worked to save Natasha. It wasn’t fair that his heart beat and hers didn’t. Wasn’t beating past his own strength forcing it to beat. He took to closing the visor while he did compressions, so he could watch her vitals. Or lack thereof. The flat line in the corner of his HUD was the most terrifying and accusing thing he had ever encountered. By the fourth cycle he was actually starting to panic. He knew what happened to the brain when it went this long without oxygen. Without a steady blood-flow. But he wasn’t going to give up, he was going to keep trying. He had to, he couldn’t lose her. Not like this. He hated the taste of salt water in his mouth, from hers. He hated seeing her lips, parted and blue. She was so pale, and her bright hair sticking to her face made a sickening comparison. He no longer heard the cracking and popping of her bones, but he felt them shift under each compression. The sun was starting to rise behind him, letting him see her face clearly. She wasn’t responding, the CPR wasn’t working. He was losing her, he knew that. He was starting the sixth cycle when he heard the helicopter approaching. He continued on, though. He couldn’t stop, knew he shouldn’t. He felt the sand kick up around him. He looked up from the second breath into Natasha’s lungs to see Bruce and Steve running towards them, full out running. Bruce had something held against his chest, and Tony could see the helicopter in the background, blades spinning. They must have left it running. Bruce skidded to a stop on the other side of Natasha, dropping what he held on the ground, as Tony started on the sixth compression in the cycle.

“Anything?” He asked, ripping open the velcro on what Tony could see now was the AED. Steve stopped beside them, but Tony didn’t spare a glance for Steve. He was leaning into each compression.

“No, this is the seventh cycle. JARVIS has been tracking her vitals, there’s been nothing. No response.” Tony said. Bruce reached past his arms and ripped her clothes off more so there was room.

“Keep going, I’ll tell you when to stop.” He said, pulling out the pads. The timing worked out, Tony had to move to do the breathing when Bruce had the pads ready to go. He placed them on her and started hooking everything up. When Tony hesitated, Bruce nodded at him to continue. Tony started the next cycle of compressions.

“Alright, pause.” Bruce said when Tony had finished the thirty. Tony moved his hands and backed up. He absently recognized the model of AED, it was the once he and Bruce had developed so that they had something that would work on every member of their team, including the meta-humans. And it was less automatic, because they had both agreed that chances were that Bruce would be using it. He watched Bruce hit the charge and Natasha’s body seize up and then relax. Bruce leaned forward and pressed two fingers to her neck. He shook his head and motioned for Tony to continue compressions while the defibrillator charged. As Tony was working on her, he noticed Steve move to her head. It was getting crowded with the three of them surrounding her, but they were all preoccupied with trying to save her life.

 

_Listen to your heart_  
 _when he's calling for you._  
 _Listen to your heart_  
 _there's nothing else you can do._  
 _I don't know where you're going_  
 _and I don't know why,_  
 _but listen to your heart_  
 _before you tell him goodbye._

 

Steve dropped a bag next to Bruce that Tony hadn’t even notice the Captain had been carrying. Bruce turned and rifled through it, procuring a mask with a tube attached. He leaned over Natasha’s face and slipped the tube in her mouth, affixing the mask to her face. Tony looked away, focusing on the chest compressions. When he looked back, Steve was squeezing a bag-like thing attached to the mask. Tony knew what they were doing, they were trying to resuscitate her. And it wasn’t working. Bruce waved him off after a moment, waved both of them back. Tony watched her body seize from the electricity. Tony had the visor up, trusting Bruce and the AED to keep track of Natasha, to let them know if her heart started beating again. But there was nothing, and he and Steve got back to work. The third time yielded nothing too, and Tony was growing afraid. Was this how he was going to lose her after all? Would this be his last vision of her, her body seizing from each attempt to restart her heart? His throat was closing up, he felt too constricted in the suit. She was dying, dead, and nothing they were doing was working. Tony could see Bruce, see it wearing on him. He was starting to lose hope as much as Tony was. Bruce knew more, and if Bruce was starting to lose hope … they were losing her. It wasn’t even Tony’s fears preying on his mind, they were actually losing her. They would be bringing a corpse home, and he’d have to do the arrangements. But the fourth attempt yielded something. Tony was watching Bruce, he couldn’t stand watching Natasha’s body seize anymore, and Bruce suddenly perked up.

“Oh thank god.” He breathed, and Tony watched him set the AED again. “She’s in V-Fib. Her heart’s trying to start.” He explained, waving both Tony and Steve to start working again. That was something, right? A chance, maybe? Tony tried not to let hope overwhelm him but there was a chance. Bruce quickly shooed them back and hit the AED, Tony made his visor drop. He needed to see. He saw the erratic movements of the line before settling down to what Tony thought looked a hell of a lot more normal than the flat line. He flipped the visor up to watch Bruce checking her over.

“She’s not breathing on her own, but her heart is beating. We need to get her to a hospital as soon as possible, and do our best to keep an oxygen flow going, but at least she has a chance now.” Bruce said as he started checking her head over. “I wish we had a backboard or something, do we know why she went down so quickly?” Tony nodded.

“Clint said something hit her in the head, knocked her out cold. She hit the water unconscious.” He pulled the gauntlet off of his left hand and laid it over her heart. He needed to feel it beating. It was a lot weaker than normal, but her pulse was there. And that was all he could ask for at the moment.

“Shit. That means she likely has a head injury. I really, really wish we had a backboard. We’re going to need to be careful when we move her to the helicopter.” Bruce said, and slipped his hands behind her head. Steve was still squeezing the bag, forcing air into her lungs. Bruce hissed after a moment.

“Yeah, there’s definitely a head wound back here. And blood. I don’t _think_ her skull is cracked, but they’re going to need to definitely run tests. I don’t feel any spinal injuries, but we’re still going to have to be careful. I want you both to carry her between you, try and keep her back as straight as possible. That’s going to be our best bet.” He stood, gathering the bag and the AED and motioning for them to follow his directions. Steve stopped with the bag and slipped arms under her armpits, and Tony put the gauntlet back on and moved to her feet. Together they lifted her and followed Bruce to the helicopter. As they were walking, Thor landed with Clint beside the helicopter. Clint rushed over to them, and Tony could see the fear in his eyes. Bruce stopped him and steered him to the copter.

“Her heart’s beating, she’s not breathing, but her heart is beating. Think you can fly us to the nearest hospital, I’m going to need both Steve and Tony in the back.” Clint turned back as he was walking to look at Natasha. He looked as frightened as Tony still felt. But there was a chance, they had bought Natasha time.

 

_And there are voices_  
 _that want to be heard._  
 _So much to mention_  
 _but you can't find the words._  
 _The scent of magic,_  
 _the beauty that's been_  
 _when love was wilder than the wind._

 

They piled into the helicopter, Bruce had both Tony and Steve secure themselves down and then secure Natasha to both of them. Bruce had said he didn’t want anything on her chest, in case she arrested or tried to start breathing. The entire flight Steve was forcing air into her lungs with the bag, but she didn’t start breathing. Clint called ahead and cleared them to land on the nearest hospital’s helipad. He and Thor would move the helicopter somewhere else after that, but Natasha was the priority. There was a team and gurney waiting for them when they handed her off, Tony wanted to go with her but he knew he’d be in the way. Bruce did go with them, and he knew she’d be safe if Bruce was with her. He shared a glance with Steve before they both trudged after Natasha. They were both directed to a waiting room, where Tony sat heavily down.

“I never want to go through that again.” Tony muttered, pulling his helmet off and starting to remove parts of the suit.

“I’d have to agree with you there.” Steve said, squatting down in front of Tony to help him get the suit off. After they finished that, they sat in silence. Tony was trying to not focus on the fact that they could still lose her. Despite all that they had done, she could still not make it. And the memories from resuscitating her were still so fresh. He knew he’d have nightmares, even if she did survive. It wasn’t long before Clint and Thor trudged in and sat down.

“Who the fuck shoots down a quinjet in coastal Florida? Who the fuck even pulls super villain bullshit in _Florida_.” Clint bitched as he sat down. Tony had to agree.

“Do we even know who that idiot was?” Clint asked. They had been fighting some idiot who apparently had anti-aircraft guns set up when Clint and Natasha had flown over for air support. They had directed the jet towards the water so it wouldn’t harm anything when it did go down.

“No, uh. He pulled the moron card and Thor accidentally caved his skull in with Mjolnir.” Tony said, leaning back. A quick glance at Thor revealed a sheepish expression on the large man.

“You know, I’m not even sorry. He may not have directly hurt Natasha, but he sure as hell contributed to it.” Clint said, leaning forward and crossing his arms over his chest. “Also my bow was in the jet. And it exploded. It was one of my back-up bows, but still. If Tash had her guns on her, I didn’t see them.” He added, scowling. Steve held up Natasha’s guns, and Tony didn’t even remember Bruce removing them or Steve picking them up. But he was glad they had them.

“Good. She likes those.” Clint said, and they all lapsed into silence after. It seemed no one really had anything to say, and Tony was sure they were all pretty terrified and anxious to know about Natasha. His own mind was playing the last hour on a loop, and he couldn’t seem to stop it. The feeling of her bones cracking and breaking beneath his hands, the taste of salt water on her mouth. Her cold lips. It was like he was trapped watching a movie, he had his head in his hands. It was well over two hours before Bruce walked out with a woman none of them recognized. Tony was judging things off of Bruce’s posture and while the scientist seemed tired, he definitely didn’t seem like he was mourning. Tony stood as they approached.

“This is Doctor Langley, she’s handling Natasha’s case.” Bruce said as both he and the woman, Dr. Langley, stopped in the middle of the room. Tony nodded at her, but as callous as it probably sounded, he really didn’t care. He needed to know about Natasha.

“Miss Romanoff is very lucky. She has a concussion, but there’s no damage to her brain. She’s breathing on her own, she started to after we drained her lungs of fluid. She’ll need several days rest, and we want to keep her here for at least three days for observation, but she will recover just fine. Doctor Banner here assured me that her fractured sternum and eight broken ribs will heal just fine, we’ve aligned them but we didn’t have to pin anything.” Tony winced, the broken bones were his fault. But she was going to be fine, and that was what mattered.

“She would not have survived if it had not been for your efforts, so I wouldn’t worry about her broken bones. Doctor Banner informed me that all of you would like to see her, so if you would follow me.” The woman turned and started walking away. Tony shared a quick glance with Bruce and followed her, Bruce stepping into line beside him.

 

_Listen to your heart_  
 _when he's calling for you._  
 _Listen to your heart_  
 _there's nothing else you can do._  
 _I don't know where you're going_  
 _and I don't know why,_  
 _but listen to your heart_  
 _before you tell him goodbye._

 

They arrived at Natasha’s room and Tony frowned, she looked asleep. But there was the comforting sound of the EKG, and he never thought he ever think of that sound as comforting. But it was. It meant her heart was beating, it meant she was alive.

“She’s just resting, Tony. She’ll wake up in a bit. We had her conscious briefly earlier, but not long enough for me to explain anything, she’s just worn out. She’s going to need a good deal of rest.” Bruce said, walking up behind Tony. He nodded, that made sense. He reached down and wrapped his hand around hers, it was warm. He could feel her pulse under his fingertips, and he was convinced in that moment that the feeling of her blood pulsing under his fingers was the most comforting thing he had ever felt. He sunk into the chair and heaved a sigh. His entire focus was her, and that was how it should be. There was an oxygen mask taking up most of her face, but her chest moved with each breath. She was going to be fine, and he wasn’t going to lose her. Not today. He reached up and smoothed her hair back. He noticed the lines creasing her forehead, he could only guess at the fact that she was in pain. But he knew her healing, and he knew her body. She’d be sore for a few weeks before everything healed up, and they likely had her on pain meds at that moment anyway. At least he guessed at that, the IV bag’s label was turned away from him. He wasn’t going to leave his spot to check, he trusted that Bruce had checked everything. He finally turned away from her to find the rest of the team in various stages of sleep. Even Bruce was nodding off in the other chair. They had been awake more than twenty-four hours at that point, he couldn’t blame them. Even his own adrenaline was wearing off and he was feeling the edges of sleep creep up on him. He made a split-second decision, and he was going to break so many rules. But he didn’t care. He climbed up into Natasha’s hospital bed and laid on his side, using what little room there was on her side that didn’t have wires and tubes trailing from it. He gently laid his arm across her, leaving his hand to rest over her heart. He was afraid to shift her, as much as he wanted to. She was in pain, and he didn’t want to make that worse. Tony pressed his face against her shoulder, and with her steady heart beat under his hand, he let himself fall asleep.

He was woken up once when Steve told him they were all going to find a hotel and crash, to which Tony nodded. Bruce was absent from the room already, and no one had told him to move, so he fell back asleep.

 

_Listen to your heart_  
 _when he's calling for you._  
 _Listen to your heart_  
 _there's nothing else you can do._  
 _I don't know where you're going_  
 _and I don't know why,_  
 _but listen to your heart_  
 _before you tell him goodbye._

 

Natasha could usually tell when something was wrong when she first woke up. And she could always tell if she was in the spot she had remembered falling asleep in. But the steady beeping meant one damned thing, and she groaned involuntarily. Something had happened to land her in medical, or a hospital. She shifted an arm and felt the pull of the needle in it. Yep. Definitely some sort of medical facility. Her throat hurt, her entire chest was a throbbing mess, and her head felt like Thor had smacked her around with his hammer. And there was a funny weight across her chest. That and the regular puffs of hot air against her neck. She cracked her eyes open to find hey boyfriend pressed up against her, and she wanted to laugh. She probably would have if her chest hadn’t felt like it did. Tony was mashed between her and the railing of the bed, on his side. He wouldn’t have been able to stay on the bed if it hadn’t been for the railing. He didn’t look comfortable but he was out cold. The weight across her chest was his arm and hand. She couldn’t help it, she smiled like an idiot. It was the sweetest thing, even if he was going to wake up in massive amounts of pain, and she couldn’t help but continue to smile. She scooted over in the bed and tugged him against her, he didn’t stir at the movement.

“We couldn’t bring ourselves to make him move. He’s been like that for a few hours now.” She turned her head to see Bruce sitting on her other side. She grinned and huffed at him. And then wrinkled her nose, there was tubing under it and that was definitely not staying. She reached her free hand up but Bruce caught it.

“Don’t, you actually need that for now. And don’t pull out the IV, either.” He told her and she sighed, frowning at him.

“What the hell happened?” God, did her voice actually sound like that? It sounded like she had been gargling gravel. And her throat hurt. She tried to clear her throat but found she couldn’t get very far with it.

“Do you remember the jet going down?” Bruce asked, eying Tony like he wanted to wake the other man up or move him. Natasha snaked an arm around Tony, if he was sleeping she didn’t want him disturbed.

“Yeah. And Clint and I bailing. And then it exploded and … well shit.” She put two and two together, something had hit her in the head. She must have hit the water like a ton of bricks and out cold. That didn’t bode well.

“ _Well shit_ is right. You were unresponsive when Tony got you out of the water, it took us almost fifteen minutes to get your heart started. You’re damn lucky, Natasha. You took a hit to the head and drowned and you’re going to walk away with eight broken ribs and a fractured sternum. You’ve got a concussion and they’re going to keep you here a few days, make sure your lungs don’t fill up with water again. But you have the damnedest luck, Tash. It could have easily been so much worse.” Bruce told her, and she frowned. He was right, she knew she was lucky as hell. But she couldn’t figure out where the ribs and sternum came into play.

“How did I end up with a fracture sternum and broken ribs?” She asked and Tony shifted against her and lifted his head.

“Panicked boyfriend and excessive force.” He said, sitting up on the bed and stretching. “That is the worst way to sleep, ever.” He added, smirking at her. Bruce took the chance and raised the bed. Natasha shifted.

“It wasn’t excessive force, Tony. That happens when you do CPR right. You did everything right.” Bruce said, handing Natasha a cup of water with a straw. She sucked down the water, it definitely took away some of the pain in her throat. She handed the cup back to Bruce and grabbed Tony, tugging him against her. If she knew him, and she did, he was going to have more problems from this than she was. Sure, it was terrifying to know she had been dead for over fifteen minutes. But if Tony had fished her out and given her CPR, then he was going to be all shades of fucked up for a while. And she needed to start reassuring him early. And early meant now. He relaxed against her while she wrapped an arm around him.

“Yeah, well, I never want to do that ever again. No one else is allowed to drown, ever. And you.” He fixed Natasha with a look. “You are not allowed to drown ever again, or get hit in the head by flying debris and then drown. Or die. Or anything like that, ever. Because my heart cannot take yours stopping like that. And …” She cut him off with a kiss. A quick one, because broken ribs made it hard enough to breathe without pulling lengthy kisses. She pulled away and smirked at him.

“I don’t plan on it, любимая.” She said to him, pressing their foreheads together. The tubing definitely got in the way, but she trusted Bruce when he said she needed it. And she could definitely notice the shortness of breath. She finally turned away from Tony and towards Bruce.

“Everyone else is okay, right? Clint?” She asked hesitantly, because he had bailed with her.

“He’s a bit waterlogged, but he’s fine. I made him get checked out. Everyone else is fine.” Bruce assured her, smirking. She was fine as long as it was only her. If her team was safe, that was all that mattered. They were probably traumatized, but she’d fix that. Broken bones were nothing, she’d heal fast enough. She felt Tony bury his face in the crook of her neck and she patted him.

“So I’m stuck here for a few days?” She asked Bruce, reaching up to bury her hand in Tony’s hair.

“Yeah, three at the most. Then we can take you home. But you’re out of commission until your bones heal completely, and you’re not budging me on that.” Bruce said, his voice growing stern. She chuckled and then winced.

“Fine, you know all the tricks I’d try to pull anyway.” She smirked at him. He did know her too well, she wouldn’t be escaping or pushing herself anytime soon. She blinked, dying was really tiring. Exhaustion was kicking it, along with the continuing throb in her head.

“Rest, Tash. You need it to recover.” Bruce said, and Tony made a sleepy noise of assent. She smirked again and shifted so she was pressed up against Tony a bit more. And then she let herself drift off, she knew she was safe with her team.


End file.
